The Enquirer will spend the next two weeks getting an 'Early Look' at the top football teams in the area - playoff push is key to Marshall's season

The high school football season will start Aug. 23. But if you can't wait that long to get your prep pigskin fix, the Enquirer will spend the next two weeks getting an 'Early Look' at the top teams in the area.

5 Story Lines for 2018 Marshall football season

Get Back To Playoffs

On any given Friday night during the season, most of the longtime Marshall football fans in the stands remember a time when their home team was going to the playoffs or having winning seasons in 25 of 26 seasons from the 1980s to the early 2000s. However, Marshall has now missed the playoffs and failed to have a winning season in six of the last eight years.

Current head coach Jason Stealy was a part of some of those winning times when he played and he is passionate about getting the Redhawks back to being a perennial playoff team. Stealy led Marshall to the playoffs in his first season, but now has had back-to-back 4-5 seasons and he says that’s just not good enough.

“The big goal for us is to get back to the playoffs. Last couple of years we just have not won enough games,” Stealy said. “4-5 the last two years is not what we expect around here, so we want to get back to playoffs and compete for the championship.”

Marshall head coach Jason Stealy works with players at a youth camp earlier this summer.(Photo: Bill Broderick/Battle Creek Enquirer)

New Faces

Marshall had a big senior class last year with 20-plus seniors with returning varsity experience on that squad. This year’s team is considerably younger, with much less game experience. But Stealy likes the mix he has, including a new face at quarterback in senior Aidan Belew.

“We have a small senior class this year, we are going to be young,” Stealy said. “But we have potential to be good because we have a lot of juniors who are ready to play.”

Biggest Game

As rivalries go, the Marshall vs. Harper Creek is right up there with the best in the area. And this year’s matchup is even more intriguing as it should say a lot about the 2018 Marshall squad, especially as the two teams meet in the first league game of the season in Week 2. Harper Creek is the defending champ in the Interstate 8 Conference and the standard in the league until someone knocks them off. Marshall will get first crack as a win could set up the rest of the season for the Redhawks.

League/Playoff chances

In terms of getting to the 6-3 mark and a spot in the playoffs, a key element has been Marshall’s non-conference schedule as the Interstate 8 Conference is tough enough without playing a couple of playoff teams as well.

Marshall is switching up its non-conference schedule this year, and it’s a mixed bag. Freeland, in Week 1, made the playoffs, but is a smaller school, playing in Division 5. Haslett, in Week 9, also made the playoffs and is a school similar in size as Marshall. The last two years, Marshall finished the season with state-ranked Portland and opened with Class A schools.

The Redhawks will be looking for a top half finish in the I-8, aiming to push Lumen Christi, Coldwater and Harper Creek, and if the ball bounces their way in the non-conference schedule, Marshall should be back in the playoffs.

The Marshall Redhawks prepare to take the field Thursday night to face off against Coldwater.(Photo: Seth Graves / For the Enquirer)

Breaking down the Season

Aug. 23 – Freeland at Marshall; 2017 result – teams did not play, Freeland was 6-4 last year